This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7371 of prior PCT International Application No. PCT/JP98/00807 which has an International filing date of Feb. 27, 1998 which designated the United States of America, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a disk system, and particularly to a disk system capable of selectively operating a plurality of disks without use of a removable magazine.
2. Background Art
FIG. 106 is a sectional side view showing an essential portion of a related art general disk system capable of selectively operating a plurality of disks, and FIG. 107 is a sectional view of the essential portion.
In FIGS. 106 and 107, reference numeral 1 indicates a magazine in which exchange disks are contained, and 2 is a disk rotating portion. The disk rotating portion 2 includes a disk rotating motor 3; a disk clamp hub 13 provided on a shaft of the disk rotating motor 3; a disk clamper 4; a disk roller 6 for feeding, a disk 8 which is fed out by a driving lever 5 provided in the magazine 1 and driven by a driving means (not shown), to the disk rotating portion 2; a driving shaft 9 fixed on a housing 7 for supporting the disk rotating portion 2; and a tilting plate cam 10 and upper and lower guide plates 11 operated in the direction A in the figures.
In this disk system, to take off a plurality of the disks 8 contained in the magazine 1, the disk rotating portion 2 is moved in the direction B in the figures by interlocking of the driving shaft 9, tilting plate cam 10 and upper and lower guide plates 11, to be positioned at a desired disk position in the magazine 1.
In this way, according to the related art disk system, since disks contained in the magazine 1 are perfectly independent from a disk rotated on the disk rotating portion 2 side within a plane region, there occurs a problem that a length, that is, a dimension D of the disk system becomes larger.
To solve the above problem, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 63-200354 has proposed a disk system. FIG. 108 is a sectional side view of an essential portion of such a disk system, and FIG. 109 is a sectional top view of the essential portion of the disk system.
In FIGS. 108 and 109, reference numeral 19 indicates a magazine for containing exchange disks; 21 is a disk rotating motor; 22 is a disk clamp hub provided on a shaft of the disk rotating motor 21; and 23 is a disk clamper.
Reference numeral 26 indicates a disk roller for feeding a disk 25 fed by a driving lever 24 driven by a driving means (not shown) to a disk rotating portion, and 27 is a driven roller disposed opposite to the disk roller 26.
Reference numeral 32 indicates a pair of tilting plate cams which are engaged with a plurality of trays 31 in the magazine 19. When the disk 25 selected by a magazine moving means (not shown) is moved in the direction of the plane of the disk, the pair of tilting plate cams 32 provide a space E more than at least a plate thickness of the disk in the rotating axis of the disk 25 with respect to the disk rotating portion 20.
Here, the disk rotating portion 20 includes the disk rotating motor 21, disk clamp hub 22, disk clamper 23, driving lever 24, disk 25, disk roller 26, drive roller 27, and tilting plate cams 32.
Next, operation of the above disk system will be described.
To take off one of the plurality of the disks 25 contained in the magazine 19, the magazine 19 is moved in the direction F in the figures by the driving means to be positioned at a desired disk position in the magazine 19.
The disk 25 slides along a disk guide portion 35 in the magazine 19 by operation of the driving lever 24 in the magazine 19, and a leading end of the disk 25 is bitten between the disk roller 26 and the driven roller 27 of the disk rotating portion 20. Then, the disk 25 is carried to the disk clamper 23 and the disk clamp hub 22 provided on the shaft of the disk rotating motor 21 by turning of the disk roller 26. The clamp position of the disk 25 is checked by a disk detecting means (not shown), and the disk clamper 23 and also the disk roller 26 and the driven roller 27 are moved in the direction of the disk clamp hub 22 by the driving means, to clamp the disk 25.
At the same time when the driven roller 27 is moved toward the disk clamp hub 22, a pair of the tilting plate cams 32 provided on the disk rotating portion 20 are moved on the magazine 19 side by the driving means, to tilt the tray 31 to form suitable space E as shown in FIG. 108b. 
The related art disk system configured as described above requires a magazine case, and consequently, it presents problems that disks cannot be selectively inserted in or ejected from the disk rotating portion one by one and that it is enlarged in size.
Further, since the related art disk system employs a portable magazine case, it is technically difficult to disassemble racks containing disks from each other in the disk system. As a result, to form a gap between a desired disk to be reproduced and a disk facing to the desired disk, only one-ends of the disks can be opened. In other words, to form a large gap between the disks, a space corresponding to the large gap must be provided in the system, thus causing a problem that the disk system is enlarged in size.
Further, since the related art disk system employs a portable magazine case, it is very difficult to separate racks containing disks from each other in the disk system while tilting each rack.
Additionally, to ensure a space in the disk system, there occurs a problem that the disk system is enlarged in size.
To solve the above-described problems, the present invention has been made, and an object of the present invention is to provide a disk system capable of being miniaturized, even in the case where the disk system is configured so that a plurality of disks are contained without the need of provision of any removable magazine and are each operated, that is, each disk is selectively inserted, ejected, and operated, for example, reproduced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disk system capable of achieving space-saving even in the case where the disk system is configured that a disk containing position is different from a disk reproducing position.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a disk system capable of preventing a disk being damaged by holding the disk upon insertion or ejection of the disk and moving both roller portions holding the disk upon reproducing or exchange of the disk.
The present invention provides a disk system including: a plurality of stockers for containing disks in such a manner as to substantially align rotational axial lines of the disks to each other; a stocker moving means for moving the stockers to specific positions; and a disk driving means for rotating the disks contained in the stockers; wherein the stocker moving means moves, on the basis of a command, at least one of a desired stocker and another stocker for providing a gap between the desired stocker and another stocker, and also moves, on the basis of the command, at least one of the desired stocker and a stocker facing to a specific surface of the desired stocker for further enlarging only the gap provided between the desired stocker and the stocker facing to the specific surface of the desired stocker up to a gap. With this configuration, upon operation of disks, the disk driving means can be moved in the gap between the desired disk and a disk adjacent to the desired disk, so that it is possible to share portions at which disks are disposed and hence to miniaturize the disk system.
The stocker moving means, preferably, moves at least one of the desired stocker and another stocker for providing the gap between the desired stocker and another stocker, and moves at least one of the desired stocker and a stocker adjacent to the desired stocker for further enlarging the gap between the desired stocker and the stocker adjacent to the desired stocker up to the gap so as to dispose at least part of the disk driving means in the gap. With this configuration, upon operation of disks, the disk driving means can be moved in the gap between the desired disk and a disk adjacent to the desired disk, so that it is possible to share portions at which disks are disposed and hence to miniaturize the disk system.
The stocker moving means is, preferably, provided with a first adjusting means for adjusting heights of the stockers, and a second adjusting means for adjusting motions of the stockers in the direction substantially parallel to a carrying path of the disk. With this configuration, it is possible to freely move the stockers in the vertical direction and the longitudinal direction, and hence to improve the reliability of the disk system.
According to the present invention, preferably, projecting portions are provided on side portions of the stockers, and the first adjusting means is formed with a plurality of recessed portions which are engaged with the projecting portions provided on the stockers for adjusting the heights of the stockers; and when the heights of the stockers are adjusted, one of the plurality of recessed portions corresponding to a desired height of one stocker is selected and the projecting portion of the stocker is locked in the recessed portion thus selected. With this configuration, it is possible to certainly adjust heights of the stockers, and hence to simplify the structure without reduction in the reliability of the disk system.
According to the present invention, preferably, projecting portions are provided on side portions of the stockers, and the first adjusting means is formed with recessed portions to be engaged with the projecting portions provided on the stockers and also formed with a separating portion for separating only one stocker not engaged with the recessed portion from others of the stockers; and when the heights of the stockers are adjusted, the projecting portion provided on a desired stocker is engaged with the corresponding one of the plurality of recessed portions and the separating portion separates a different stocker not engaged with the recessed portion from the desired stocker. With this configuration, it is possible to certainly enlarge the gap between the adjacent stockers, that is, separate the adjacent stockers from each other with a simple mechanism, and hence to further improve the reliability of the disk system.
The disk system according to the present invention, preferably, further includes an interlocking control means for interlocking the stocker moving means to the disk driving means. With this configuration, it is possible to simultaneously perform operations of the entire disk system and prevent malfunction and the like, and hence to improve the reliability of the disk system.
According to the present invention, preferably, in a state in which there exists a stocker not containing a disk and the disk driving means is not driven, the stocker moving means previously disposes the stocker in the vicinity of a disk insertion port. With this configuration, it is possible to rapidly contain a disk in the disk system and hence to start a specific operation for the disk.
This improves the usability of an operator.
The stocker moving means, preferably, previously disposes a desired stocker in the vicinity of a disk insertion port on the basis of a command. With this configuration, it is possible to eliminate a labor necessary for selecting an empty one from a plurality of stockers for an operator to contain a disk in the disk system, and hence to improve the usability of an operator.
The stocker moving means, preferably, integrally moves the plurality of stockers in the height direction upon carrying of a disk. With this configuration, it is possible to shorten a time required for movement of the stockers, and hence to improve the usability of disk system.
The stocker moving means preferably moves, upon operation of the disk driving means, at least one of a desired stocker and another stocker for providing a gap between the desired stocker and another stocker and also moves at least one of the desired stocker and a stocker facing to a specific surface of the desired stocker for further enlarging only the gap between the desired stocker and the stocker facing to the specific surface of the desired stocker up to a gap. With this configuration, the disk driving means can be inserted in the gap further enlarged, so that it is possible to make smaller a space in the direction of disk displacement and hence to miniaturize the disk system.
The present invention also provides disk system including: a plurality of stockers for containing disks in such a manner as to substantially align rotational axial lines of the disks to each other; a stocker moving means for moving the stockers to specific positions; a disk operating portion for rotating the disk, the disk operating portion being provided in such a manner as to be movable from one end to the other end of a carrying path of the disk substantially in parallel to the disk carrying path; a disk clamper portion for holding the disk, the disk clamper portion being provided in such a manner as to be movable from one end to the other end of the disk carrying path substantially in parallel to the disk carrying path; first and second disk rollers, provided opposite to each other with the disk carrying path put therebetween, for carrying the disk carried within the disk carrying path while holding both surfaces of the disk; a first roller moving means for moving, upon operation of the disk driving means, the first disk roller in the direction substantially perpendicular to a plane of the disk facing to the first disk roller so as to provide a gap between the first disk roller and the plane of the disk; and a second roller moving means for moving, upon operation of the disk driving means, the second disk roller in the direction substantially perpendicular to a plane of the disk facing to the second disk roller so as to provide a gap between the second disk roller and the plane of the disk. With this configuration, the operational range of the disk operating portion is shared with operational ranges of other members, so that it is possible to miniaturize the disk system.
The stocker moving means, preferably, moves at least one of a desired stocker and another stocker for providing a gap between the desired stocker and another stocker on the basis of a command. With this configuration, since at least part of the disk operating portion can be inserted in the gap between the desired stocker and another stocker, the disk system can be miniaturized, and also since the moving distance of a disk to an operating position can be shortened, a time necessary for starting operation of a disk can be shortened, resulting in the improved reliability of the disk system.
According to the present invention, preferably, when the first and second disk rollers are operated, the stocker moving means, the disk clamper portion, and the disk operating portion are interlocked with each other. With this configuration, it is possible to smoothly control a desired operation of a disk and hence to improve the reliability of the disk system.
Preferably, each of the stockers is provided with a locking means for locking the disk, and the locking means adjusts a magnitude of a force for locking the disk in accordance with a position of each of the stockers. With this configuration, when a stocker containing a disk is moved, the disk is prevented from being slipped off from the stocker because the disk is firmly locked by the locking means, so that it is possible to improve the reliability of the disk system.